Cutting a rabbet with a 3" start / stop on each end on table saw

Some set the blade at the proper height, then count the number of revolutions as you crank it down below the throat plate. You could then position the workpiece, hold it down with featherboards/push sticks, start the saw, and raise the blade into the piece the proper number of revolutions and finish the cut.

—Gerry

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

Jeff;

Why can’t you do this on your router table? Lower the bit and do a half depth cut on your pieces then raise bit to final depth and run them through again.

Seems this would be safer?

Good luck!

-- Rick Gustafson - Lost Creek Ranch - Colorado County, Texas

You can do it on the table saw but I think stop rabbits are a lot bigger pain on the table saw then on the router table. If your router table is small you might consider a in feed and out feed for your router table.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

You can drop the timber onto the spinning blade. The heavier
the board the more control you’ll have due to mass and inertia.
Practice the cut on a 2×4 to see how it feels.

Use featherboards.

A slower way to go is start with the blade below the table
and crank it up into the cut. A variant is to sort of do
all the cuts in 1/16” increments, making the plunge
quite mild and controllable and doing all the boards at
a given depth, then raising the blade a bit and running
them through again until full depth is reached.

Do NOT ‘drop’ it onto a spinning blade! That will create way more excitement than you bargained for. If you routed the 2 ends and then connected those with the table saw, that should work. The routed rabbit would give you something to raise your blade to without the blade running. Be careful!

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

3/4” in 1/16” increments = 12 passes?

-- Rick Gustafson - Lost Creek Ranch - Colorado County, Texas

I’m a newbie, so what do I know!

Even though I’m a newbie, I like the sound of gfadvm’s solution the best. It sounds like the best & safest way to do it.

-- Randy-- I may not be good...but I am slow!

I dont know what your building, but have you pondered running it all through the length then filling in the three inch rebate on each end ?

Cabmaker, You are a genious! Why didn’t we ALL think of that? I withdraw my suggestion. I’m going to pm you the next time I’m trying to figure out how to do something the hard way! That’s why this is such a great site. We have some very smart folks who are willing to help.

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

Thanks for your inputs folks. I might try gfadvm;s suggestion next and will let you all know how I go. I have 16 of these 5” and 6” lengths to go thru, so I want to avoid trying to raise the router bit 1/16”.

Just a meaningful second to gadfvm’s opinion.

Trying the dado method cost me a trip to the ER many years ago, but the memory is vivid.

Use the router, sharp bit, small increments, and listen closely for high frequency chatter—it tells you you are taking too big a bite.

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"

I meant 5’ and 6’ lengths…...

What cabmaker said. It’s much simpler and safer.

-- Adversity doesn't build character...................it reveals it.

Yes, as I think more about this, I’m leaning towards cabmakers’s way. Thanks folks.